


With Wasp and Wren

by Estirose



Category: Zero Escape (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 15:09:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7578877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Estirose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Junpei has a conversation with a stranger and wonders about his abilities, in a world alternate to the events of ZTD.</p>
            </blockquote>





	With Wasp and Wren

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chaoticrandomness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaoticrandomness/gifts).



> I wanted to deal with Junpei's feelings about Akane and his abilities, and Diana decided to wander in.

"Are you all right?" the girl standing in front of Junpei asks. She's frowning, and Junpei wonders if he's gotten so caught up in his own thoughts that he seems out of it. He is, kind of; trying to find Akane for so long probably has made him that way.

He focuses on the girl before him, a stranger with red hair and wide blue eyes, a look that stands out even in America where he is. This is where Akane's trail, as tentative as it is, has lead him. Seven could find that much, but not more, and he's silently thankful that someone believed him enough to try.

"Yeah. Just distracted." His accent probably marks him as a foreigner; English is a difficult language and he's had to put a lot of time into learning it so he doesn't sound like an idiot. He can't chance losing Akane over a language difference.

The girl somehow looks familiar, and he wonders if it's just that he's been around so many Caucasians or because she just has that kind of look about her. Or maybe it's a little bit of the Morphogenetic Field, that someone who can transmit knows her, and he's just a handy receiver. He doubts that, though. He can only really receive and transmit with Akane, he thinks, and every time he's tried to use the Field to try to find her he's gotten nothing.

It's like he no longer has the ability at all. Maybe he has it, but he can't consciously use it. That, Snake had told him during a long conversation, was a possibility. That his ability is so tied to Akane's that if she blocks him somehow, it's as if he doesn't have the ability at all.

She's still staring at him, the girl. "What's your name?" he asks. Maybe if he knows, it might trigger how he knows. Or might not. The Morphogenetic Field is something he really doesn't understand, even after all that happened.

"I'm Diana." The name means nothing to him, but there's a hint of a smile, if a sad one. He can imagine - maybe see - it bigger, brighter, happier. It's hard to tell what's his imagination and what could be his abilities. If Akane's really blocking his abilities, he's somehow glad. It makes him almost normal. "Your accent... where are you from?"

"I'm Japanese. My name is Junpei." Around here, nobody seems to need to know your last name, which is fine by him. "I'm looking for a friend." He hopes that's the right way to say it. Sometimes the nuances of one language are lost in another.

"Pleased to meet you... Um, a friend? Are you looking for a person in particular, or..." she asks, squinting up at him. "I... I guess from your expression that you're looking for someone, and they're not here." Junpei catches the English neutral pronoun in her words, because English demands a pronoun there where his own native tongue does not.

He runs a hand through his hair. "I hope to find her here." Except he hasn't. He isn't sure why he tried coming at all, except maybe to find some closure. "She... went missing. This place is the only clue I have."

It's more than he intended to say, but maybe he needs someone besides Snake to listen to him, and maybe there's something about her that tells him that she can be trusted, that he can speak to her about all this and not be considered a madman, or creepy.

She gives him a nod, finally, as if she understands, but she can't quite get involved. Not for a stranger. No matter how he feels, no matter what he might be receiving, she does not know him and he does not really know her. "Good luck," she tells him, and while there is a tentative catch in her voice, almost a question mark, there's also something genuine.

Maybe he hasn't found Akane, not yet, but it doesn't mean he doesn't have a chance. There's always the possibility that she'll slip up, accidentally let him know where she is. Or maybe someone, somewhere will know, will pass it on, and he will find her.

Resolving to talk to Snake about the possibility, he continues looking.


End file.
